Raymond a



(No Model.)

' R. A. PATTERSON.

GAME.

No. 387,440. 'Patented Aug. 7, 1888.

N. Pains. Phnwumnmamr, wnhingm mc.

NrrED STATES RAYMOND A. PATTERSON, OF EVANSTON, ILLlNOlS.

GAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.387,440, dated August 7, 1888.

Application filed October 24, 1887. Serial No. 252,180.v (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAYMOND A. PATTER- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Game, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a game to be played with cards, and my object is to adapt the outdoor game commonly known as lawn tennis to be played indoors with cards in the manner of any ordinary game wherein playing-cards are used, and thereby provide by a game of card-tennis, as l term myimprovement, a social indoor amusement in the form of a game of cards based upon the rules and regulations of lawn-tennis.

The drawing illustrates the manner in which the cards are marked.

Vhile those skilled in the game of lawntennis may understand the game involving my improvement more readily than those unfamiliar with the outdoor game, the following description is intended to present an explanation which shall enable those unacquainted with the game of lawn-tennis to play that of card-tennis.

The means involving the patent-able feature of my new game comprise a pack of cards, which may consist of forty-four or forty-eight cards, depending upon whether two or four persons play, and these numbers may be subject to variation. The game is particularly intended for four players, composing two sets of partners, and I therefore confine my description, in the main, to the game as played by four persons. In the pack there are five different maiu sets-two comprising sixteen cards each, two four each, and one eight cards in a pack of forty-eight cards. The technical terms used are the same as in the outdoor game: To serve is to play the iirst card. To return is to play a card of equal or superior value to that served. To volley is to play a card of equal or superior value to the return All cards played after the return are called volleys. The five sets referred to into which the pack is divided consist, respectively, of sixteen marked Drop Ball, sixteen marked Swift Ball, four marked Safe Cut, four marked Ground Cut, and eight marked Fault To adapt the card to a modification in the game, the sixteen Drop Ball cards are subdivided into four sets of four cards each, the members ofthe sets, respectively, being marked Right Front, Left Front, Right Rear, and Left Rear, and the sixteen Swift Ball cards are similarly subdivided and marked Right Front, Left Front, Right Rear, and Left Rear, thereby making, in addition to the live main sets, eight sub-sets of four cards each. There are thus in each pack eleven sets of cards, ten of which comprise each four similarly marked, and one (the Fault set) eight, or in a two-hand game also four. These different sets are each represented in the accompanying drawing by one member, having marked upon it the play it represents, preferably as shown, in a manner to render it what is known in regard to ordinary playingcards double-headed, or readily recognizable whichever end is uppermost.

The value of the cards is as follows: A "Fault stops any card in play except a Safe Cut, thereby giving 'the point to the side playing it. A Safe Out cannot be returned nor volleyed nor stopped by a Fault A Drop Ball may be returned by the same l or any other card or stopped by a Fault A Ground Out cannot be returned nor volleyed, but may be stopped by a Fault A Swift Ball may be returned by a Safe Gut, Ground Out, or by another Swift Ball, or may be stopped by a Fault The score consists of four points, counted as follows: Love, or nothing, 15, 30, 40, game. Six games make a sett Before each serve the server should call his own and then his opponents score. When both sides are at 4.0, the score is deuce, and then either side, must win successively two points for game The first of these, when won by the serving side, is called vantage in, and vantage out if won by the opposing side. If the score stands at vantage for oneside and the opposing side win a point, the score returns toV dence When the game is played by four persons, partners sit opposite each other. Throwing cards one at a time face upward around the table to the players in succession, the first Fault card designates the server. He deals, one at a time,four cards to each player,

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and then places the remainder of the pack at the center of the table. He then serves by laying a card face upward on the table to the player at his left, who either returns (with a card of equal or superior value) or stops the card by a Fault. In the latter case the dealer has a second serve; but if this card also be stopped by a Fault the point is with the opponents. Each card when played should be named by the player. If the card served is returned, it may be volleyed by the servers partner, then by the player at such partners left, and so on until it is stopped by a Fault, or until the nextplayer is unable to volley it, which gives the point to the side playingr last. After the point is won each player fills his hand from the pack to four cards. Service is then made by the dealer to the player at the right, and if returned play is continued in the same direction. Should a Fault be served each player must discard one card. The game proceeds as above described, cards being served by the dealer alternately to the left and right, and until either side wins gaine, 7 when the cards are sbuflled and dealt by the player at the left of the first dealer, the dealer always being the server. To illustrate: The serverplays a Drop Ball. His left-hand opponent plays a Swift Ball. The partner yolleys witha Ground Cut; but the fourth player stops by a Fault, winning the point. Each player then fills his hand. The server calls the score, Love, 15, and serves a Safe Cut to his right-hand neighbor, thereby winning the point, as this card cannot be returned, the score standing l5 all.77 Then he serves a Ground Cut to the left. It is met by a Fault Having another serve, he serves to the same person a Swift Ball,77 which is returned with another Swift The servers partner has nothing but Drops and as he cannot volley nor stop with a Fault his opponent scores, making the game stand 15, 30, and so on.

The gaine is complete as above described; but a very interestingr complication may be introduced by the division of the Swift- Ball and Drop-Ball cards into Court77 cards to indicate the court into which they are played in returning and volleying-thus, Right Front, Left Front#7 Right Rear, and Left Rear, as illustrated in the drawing. These court cards may be volleyed only by one of the same side, right or left. Rear cards meet either front or rear, While Front cards meet only Front cards. Swift Balls, though of higher value than Drops, cannot be played against the latter except in the proper courts. The three higher cards Faults, Safe Cuts, and Ground Guts-are not affected by these court line representations, and the court-indieating divisions of the cards are not to be regarded in serving.

1When the gaine is played by two persons only, the number of Fault cards should be reduced to four, since otherwise the server may be placed at great disadvantage-*in fact, to such an extent that he might generally be beaten, which wonld tend to lessen the interest in the game.

That I claim as new, and desi re to secure by Letters Patent, isn

l. A pack of cards comprising` sets marked, respectively, Safe Cut, Ground Gut, Fault, SwiftBalh and DropBall,7 sub stantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A pack of cards comprising` sets marked, respectively. Safe Cut, Ground Cut, Fault, Swift Ball, and Drop Ball, and having each of the Swift-Ball and Drop- Ball sets divided into sets provided with representations indicating the court into which they are played, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

El. A pack of cards comprising iive sets composed of four cards marked Safe Cut, four marked Ground Cut, eight marked Faultj7 sixteen marked Swift Ball, and sixteen marked Drop Ball, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A. pack of cards comprising five sets coniposed of four cards marked Safe Cnt, four marked Ground Cut, eight marked Failla sixteen marked Swift Ball, and sixteen marked Drop Ball, and having each set of sixteen subdivided into foursets of four cards cach, marked, respectively, Right Front,7 Left Front, Right Rear, and Left Rear, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

RAYMOND A. PATTERSON.

J. XV. DYRENFORTH, Giras. E. GoR'roN.

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